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All posts by LKY - 154. page

BBC Chinese: China’s Internet Blocks Rumors of Jiang Zemin’s Death

An article in BBC Chinese reported that, “China’s Internet police have apparently blocked discussions about Jiang Zemin, the formal Party Secretary.” The BBC Chinese said, “On July 1, while many formal top party leaders including the formal Prime Minister Li Peng and Zhu Rongji appeared at the celebration ceremony of the Party’s 90th anniversary, Jiang, who is 84, was not present. This led to the rumor that Jiang was seriously ill or has passed away.”

According to BBC, on July 6, a BBC reporter logged on to the Sina website and typed “Jiang Zemin.” A message came back stating, “According to the related legal rules and policy, your search results cannot be displayed.” A list of Chinese words including “heart attack,” and “Party Secretary” were also blocked. Even the word “Yangtze” and other river related words were blocked because the Chinese characters contains the characters for “Jiang,”  the same name as the former Party Secretary. BBC said that several Hong Kong media sources from Beijing disclosed that Jiang suffered a massive heart attack and was hospitalized at the PLA 301 hospital where many top party leaders have paid visits.

Source: BBC Chinese, July 6, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2011/07/110706_jiang_censor.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Tsinghua Students Called on to Study Socialist Core Values & Political Ideology

On June 30, Li Changchun, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, visited Tsinghua University. Li called on the university to “improve the quality of education and persistently strengthen and renew political ideology education so as to speed up Tsinghua’s progress in advancing toward being a world first class university.”

Li said that universities should launch education programs for students to learn about contemporary history so they can understand "how history and people chose Marxism, the Communist Party, the socialist path, and the open and reform policy. … Therefore, they will be able to form a firm belief in walking the socialist path with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party."

Source: Xinhua, July 1, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011-07/01/c_121608015.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Taiwan Lifts Ban on Individual Tourist Visits from Mainland

Taiwan announced that, effective June 22, 2011, it will issue tourist visas for individual Mainland tourists to visit Taiwan. According to the immigration office, it will only require two working days to finish processing the visa application. The visa will allow tourists to stay in Taiwan for 15 days. The Taiwanese government is placing high hopes on the economic benefits. Since opening the door to Mainland’s group tours in July 2008, it has reaped $US3.8 billion in income in foreign exchange. At the same time, the concern for national security remains. Some of the sites such as military bases, national laboratories, and bio-technology research sites will remain off limits to individual tourists.

Source: BBC, June 22, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2011/06/110622_free_visiting_tw_james.shtml

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

First Privately Owned Party School Formed in Shanghai

The Ossen Group, a private company in Shanghai with a core business in steel and real estate, formed its own Party school, the first in the private business sector. The Ossen Party School consists of the school principal, an administrator, and a guidance counselor and will organize trainings for the Party members within the Ossen group. 

According to the Party secretary of the Ossen Group, the group has established CCP branch offices in each subsidiary company, conducted training and education on Party guidelines and core values, and regularized CCP activities in the group so as to attract the younger generation to embrace the Party. Now 90 percent of the company’s leadership personnel are CCP members. In recent years, it has recruited over 150 new Party members.

Source: People Daily Online, June 21, 2011
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/14958981.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Private Anti-Corruption Website in China Closed

Chen Hong, a 28-year-old man, set up the website "www.ibribery.com," that accepted anonymous tips about the corrupt behavior of government officials. Within ten days after the launch on June 9, 2011, the website attracted over 200,000 visitors. The site published numerous postings regarding bribery involving government officials, police officers, and physicians. However, according to the city’s local paper Jinghua Daily, officials from Beijing Municipal People’s Procuratorate stated that websites such as "www.ibribery.com" “do not conform to the law.” Chen initially thought the website would help the government, but that did not seem to be the case. On June 19, he shut down the website fearing that the website caused trouble and he did not want it to be seen as a threat to the government.

Source: BBC, June 22, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2011/06/110622_china_bribery_battle.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China News Service: FBI Persecutes U.S. Political Dissidents

China News Service reprinted a report from Taiwan’s Central News Agency on the FBI’s recent nationwide anti-terrorist investigation targeting prominent activists for their political views. The article said, “The targets are those who have sharply criticized U.S. Middle East and South American foreign policy. They denied any connection with terrorists. Those investigated expressed concern that U.S. government uses post-9/11 anti-terrorism as an excuse to target them because they hold different political views. Those subpoenaed include office clerks, educators, and lesbian couples with young children. A Chicago lawyer Michael Deutsch said they are ‘public non-violent activists with long, distinguished careers in public service, including teachers, union organizers, and antiwar and community leaders.’” “Several activists under investigation and their lawyers said that they believe the indictments would come any time, so they have fought back, decrying the inquiry as a threat to their First Amendment rights.” 

The original English source can be traced to a Washington Post news report “Activists cry foul over FBI probe,” that was published on June 13, 2011.

Source:
China News Service, June 15, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/gj/2011/06-15/3112361.shtml
Washington Post, June 13, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/activists-cry-foul-over-fbi-probe/2011/06/09/AGPRskTH_story.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China Economic Weekly: Why Have Europeans always controlled the IMF?

China Economic Weekly carried a commentary questioning why Europeans has always controlled the IMF and whether it is a “world organization” or a “European organization.” It suggested that having members from developing countries on the management team of the IMF would be consistent with its legitimacy. The article refers to a statement made by IMF Executive Directors representing BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) in May demanding “adequate representation of emerging market and developing members in the Fund’s management.”

As to the successor to the head of the IMF, the article points to the U.S., who is the biggest stockholder of the IMF, and said that the US has been controlling IMF operations behind the scenes but with no intention to fight for the title. However, “the US is unlikely to support any candidates outside of the European countries because it does not want to go against the European countries." The article quoted a number of people, including Amado Boudou, Minister of the Economy of Argentina, and Angel Gurría of OECO, who stated that it is time to break tradition and have someone other than a European hold the position.

Source: China Economic Weekly, June 13, 2011
http://www.ceweekly.cn/html/Article/20110613397335060.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

A Million CCP Members in Anhui Swore Loyalty to the Party

On June 15, at a local Revolutionary Martyrs’ Cemetery in Hefei, the capital city of the Anhui Province in eastern China, over 1,000 Chinese Communist Party members in provincial government agencies and military organs re-chanted their oath and swore loyalty to the Party. It is part of the campaign taking place at all levels of CCP organizations in the province, with the theme of “a million CCP members refresh the oath made when joining the Party and memorialize revolutionary martyrs.”

Source: Xinhua, June 15, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011-06/15/c_121540864.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics